Thursday, January 25, 2007

"This dusty old dust is a-gettin' my home..."

And here are the results, folks. I'm rather pleased with them myself; not just because I trust the committee to have picked good ones...but because they put to rest any rumor that I can predict the awards. Yes, last year my Mock picked the winner, and it's honors all received other medals. But this year, not one of the Newbery winners was on our discussion list. Only two were even considered.

There's great blogging activity over these awards right now, so much so that I'm just going to let you seek it out yourself. This of course goes against the bloggers code of honor, but I find, after this year-long experiment, that I'm actually not a blogger.

That's not to say I haven't enjoyed the experiment. It succeeded in all three of it's goals: 1) made me get organized for my Mock Newbery; 2) Helped spread the word about it, dramatically increasing turnout; 3) Let me prove to myself that I'm capable of blogging.

However, I find that I don't enjoy the pressure of feeling like it's been too long since I posted. While I enjoy following blog threads and scandals with tremendous glee, I don't enjoy feeling like I have to keep up with them, or feel the duty of reporting on them. I am one of those wallflowers who will suddenly barge into a discussion, cutting people off, and then leave when I get tired and go face a wall somewhere and let my mind happily wander with itself. This does not a blogger make.

And so this is my last post. I will leave the blog up, as a happy side-effect has been to let me document some of the issues surrounding award procedures, and many of you who have spoken to me in person (thank you!) have mentioned you hope to be able to refer to it. In a year, who knows, maybe it will be time to crack it open once more. By then, blogging may have become something else entirely.

1 Comments:

Have a great year chairing the Newbery committee! I have loved reading your blog-thank you so much! (I just finished A Drowned Maiden's Hair after it won your Mock Award and LOVED it!) Thanks for reviewing such great books and for giving us a tiny peek into the life of the Newbery Committee. We'll miss your blog but can't wait to see what your committee picks next year! Enjoy!Frankiwww.readingyear.blogspot.com